My '44 Underwood M1 Carbine

Nice Carbine, the wood looks great!

Before shooting any of mine for the first time, I always removed the stock and checked the piston nut staking among other things, so the plate and hang get adjusted during reassembly. Perhaps because of this, Ive never had one that WASN'T a tack driver, lol.

Kinda like the AKs reputation for inaccuracy, which Ive never really experienced- dont believe everything you read on the internet.

BudrowBob said:

I bought this M1 back in 1990, still have the receipt, it was $139.00 through shotgun news.

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I think that Peter Lynch would classify that as a "ten-bagger" today.

Interesting. I bought an Underwood M1 Carbine at B&B Sales in Westminster, CA in 1991 for $139 that was a Korean “Lend / Lease” as well. It was a wonderful little shooter. Very accurate with Federal American Eagle ammo. It was a fun gun. I sold it to a friend of mine for $250. A week later Clinton banned the sale of them and prices shot up to over $700.

Oh well, I enjoyed it very much.

I have a Blue Sky Winchester and it is a good shooter. I bought it from the same batch as you guys. I am glad you are enjoying your carbine.

My Blue Sky Garand had a really awful stock, broken op rod spring and worn bore, but she also cleaned up nice. The stock wasn't worth the effort of refinishing, so I bought an Italian walnut job from Sarco; I also had the barrel replaced at the CMP Custom Shop. I gather Blue Sky imports were a crap shoot -- with the emphasis on crap -- but given today's prices for M1 Garands and Carbines they seem more and more like prudent investments.

Wow Dave! We must have gotten the same rifle! Mine had same problems!
I only replaced the spring, but it gives me great pleasure in shooting it.

Thats a nice refinishing job on the stock. Glad you got it to shooting better.

Dave DeLaurant said:

My Blue Sky Garand had a really awful stock, broken op rod spring and worn bore, but she also cleaned up nice. The stock wasn't worth the effort of refinishing, so I bought an Italian walnut job from Sarco; I also had the barrel replaced at the CMP Custom Shop. I gather Blue Sky imports were a crap shoot -- with the emphasis on crap -- but given today's prices for M1 Garands and Carbines they seem more and more like prudent investments.

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Looks great!

My Dad and I both have Blue Sky Garands. His looks almost unissued, but is probably just a really good arsenal rebuild. Mine had excellent metal, but the stocks were so/so with a really ugly Chui wood upper, which I quickly replaced with GI walnut. Mine also had a nasty dent in the muzzle and needed recrowned, but has been a great shooter since.

I’d rather have a Garand (and do).

BudrowBob said:

I bought this M1 back in 1990, still have the receipt, it was $139.00 through shotgun news.

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You got a bargain. In the 1980's, the going price for a run-of-the-mill Carbine was in the $200 range. Perhaps the "Blue Sky" stamp depressed the price.

BudrowBob said:

They imported a bunch and for years that ugly “blue sky” stamp on the barrel seemed to be a problem to others. But I bought it to shoot, not resell.
I'm not a collector, I'm a shooter.

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Supposedly some of the Blue Sky barrel stamps were heavy enough to actually deform the barrel. I don't doubt it, since Ive seen more than one Carbine with bent barrels, so I assume they are somewhat soft steel.

I have a Blue Sky Winchester. Got it a couple years back, but it had an extra zero in the price. Even the Blue Sky's aint cheap these days. Although after bitching about the stamp on the barrel, they did drop the price $300.

Of the three I currently have, its actually my favorite and the one that gets shot the most.

Of course, the charging handle sheared off the slide the first time out. Appears it was a Korean replacement at some point, and Numrich got it fixed right back up with a GI replacement. If you need parts, they are a great resource. Other than that, and the usual fixes these guns seem to need addressed (bolt rebuild, springs, sight restaked, proper mags, etc), its been fine since.

Once I got the rear sight restaked properly, it shot a lot better. Seems a lot of people must think you're supposed to drift them in the dovetail for windage, as the 5 carbines Ive had, all had the rear sights loose, and knocked out of the stake.

The CMP is a good resource for info on them. They go into pretty good detail on getting the sights properly rezeroed. Many, if not most of the rearsenaled guns did not have the front sight properly rezeroed when the gun was through the arsenal after the war, and the rear sight markings wont always pan out. As long as the front post is "tall", you can usually get them properly adjusted with a little careful filing and measuring.

Most seem to have been through the arsenal (the bayo lug and adjustable rear sight are a good indication), but Ive seen a number of them that came back and were kept, and still have the original rear sight and no bayo lug.

Fun and accurate shooters. My only real complaint is, they randomly chuck their brass in a 360 degree "group" and anywhere from at your feet to 15'-20' away. Once you have the brass, they are cheap to reload for, but the brass isnt cheap, and having to always hunt for it is a PITA.

For the Blue Sky folks.


The above was a take off years ago. I never saw a barrel M1 Garand or Carbine where the barrel import stamp was deep enough to effect form, fit or function of the barrel. That includes dozens of Blue Sky rifles (mostly Garands) which passed through me. So if I rebarrel a Blue Sky import is it still a Blue Sky import?

Ron

I like shooting my Carbines and Garands. I have an Underwood-Elliot-Fisher that was a lend-lease return from Germany. It is marked "Bavarian Forestry Police. Also shown is one of my Garands. A Springfield. Both purchased from the CMP in Anniston alabama. I also shoot cast bullets in both rifles with Zero problems.

I have an original 100%, I think, Underwood. Some dumbazz filled in the sling/oiler hole with plastic wood and built up a Weatherbyesque pistol grip out of the same crap and replaced the buttplate with a recoil pad. I have a replacement plate and sling and am about to dig out the dremel, chisel and light hammer to see if I can reclaim it. I do have a Winchester stock if all else fails. It shoots great. I guess I'd better check the internals after reading this thread. I have the govt classified publications on the M1, M2 carbine and the Thompson. Friend of a friend...